One by One
by Cupid's Girlfriend
Summary: Kate: “No it’s not Tony! The note said he was gonna kill everyone I ever loved, don’t you see, you’re next!” When somebody from Kate's past begins a series of rage killings, and every one of them is traced back to her, the team go into action TATE XXX
1. I'm coming to get you'

One by One 

She walked into the dark room. His body met her eyes in an instant, his cold eyes staring at her. Lying next to the body was a piece of paper with words written in his blood.  
'_I'm coming to get you'. _It was the same style as the note found beside the previous body. She looked back up to the motionless face of her friend. She backed away in disbelief. Suddenly she felt a hand on her shoulder. She turned abruptly and let out a short gasp. When Tony's face met hers, her heart began to beat again.  
Tony: "How you holdin' up?"  
Kate: "Not good." She said half laughing at herself in a sigh.  
He placed his hands on her arms.  
Tony: "Oh, you're shaking Kate, C'mere." He said softly, gently pulling her into a hug. Kate was scared, she was so glad Tony was there.  
Tony: "We'll catch him, we'll catch him." He continued to whisper to her whilst stroking her hair.


	2. It started a week ago

It started a week ago, though Kate didn't realize how far what she thought was a prank would go. On Monday morning she woke up earlier than usual. She when into the kitchen to make herself some coffee when she heard the mail being thrown at the door with a thump, she slid off her chair wearily to receive it. She gingerly opened the door as she was in her bath-robe and pick up the paper along with some other mail.

She dumped them on the kitchen side and started to look through them.

"Bill, Bill, Bill, hey a letter for once." She said to herself. All it read was 'Apartment 5B' She unsealed it and pulled put the paper to reveal a sentence written in poison pen:

I'm gonna kill them all for what you did, everybody you ever loved

One by One.

For a moment she felt afraid and sick that somebody would write something like that and send it to her, but then she just told herself that it was a stupid joke, probably sent by the kids down the hall that had given her a little trouble previously. She decided to forget it, little did she know that later on that day, she would be regretfully reminded of it.

Kate got dressed and headed out to work. When she arrived at the office she took the elevator to the bullpen. She dropped her purse beside her chair and began to go through her work mail. Mostly the letters were memos, all except for one. She opened it and saw that it was the same letter she had received earlier that morning.

"Whatcha reading?" a familiar voice asked, though he still made her jump.

"Oh, just some stupid threat letter somebody keeps sending me- it's nothing."

"Let me see." He said snatching it from her hands.

"No Tony give it back- give it…" she said trying desperately to take it back from him, even though he'd already read it.

"Oh my God Kate, you have to tell Gibbs about this, somebody's sending an employee of the government a death threat then he's gonna wanna know about it."

"No Tony, don't worry about it it's nothing."

"Nothing? Kate how many times have you been sent this?"

"Including this time makes two, three if you count a couple of months ago when the kids down the hall sent me something similar." He looked at her, as if disappointed she didn't tell him.

"What? I didn't think anything of it at the time."

"Well it's different now." He stated. She sighed, silently informing him that she'd given in and he walked to the elevator with the intention of finding Gibbs, it was a choice between Autopsy or Abby's Lab.


	3. Autopsy

Tony rode the elevator with an unwilling Kate down to Autopsy, she took in a deep breath when they approached the floor as she always did, since about two years ago, she had been subconsciously afraid of Autopsy.

The doors pinged open and they step out through the automatic doors to be met with Ducky's grinning face.

"Hullo Anthony, Caitlyn." He addressed them merrily.

"New DB Ducky?" he asked expecting an answer for his abnormal happiness.

"Do you recognize this, Anthony." He said, showing him a small piece of labeled lifting tape.

"Looks like a fingerprint Duck." He said questioningly.

"Exactly, and where do you think we found this print."

"On a personal item?" Kate butted in.

"Oddly, no."

"Look we really don't have time for this Ducky I…"

"The Crime Scene Investigators found it _on_ the body. They got the call 40 minutes after this poor souls death and were able to lift this print from a defensive wound on his right wrist. You see within the last hour post mortem, the evidence of the killer…"

"Remains on the body, ya ya I know what's the punch line Duck we need to ask you something."

"This print most definitely belongs to the killer, the case is as good as solved! Not what did you want to ask me?" he said contently.

"Have you seen Gibbs today?"

"Uh, no I haven't actually, not since yesterday."

"Ok thanks." Tony said rushing out almost dragging Kate with him by the wrist.

When they reached the elevator Tony pressed the button for the floor of Abby's Lab.

"Your next stop ladies & gentlemen will be the lab." He said in his most annoying tour bus guide voice which made Kate glare at him.

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Hey guys, hope you like this chap! I promise there's action soon but it's all later, if you don't read this you won't get the big shocker!  
I've said too much already so please R&R i love to know what you think!  
Luv  
Cupid's Girlfriend  
xxx  
We the stars fall and I lie awake, You're my shooting star


	4. Abby's Lab and Dodging Tony's bullet

Hey,

I forgot to do a disclaimer at the beginning so here it is:

Disclaimer: 

If I did own NCIS, which I don't, all y'all TATE fans would have something to smile about, you get my drift? But unfortunately I don't! The legendary Bellisario does. That man's done some damn good work, he deserves to own it!

P.S. I wrote this BEFORE that S.O.A.B agreed to kill her off!

(Well I gotta blame somebody!)

Anyways here the next chap for you (It gets better I swear you just gotta wait mwhahaha!) :

xxx

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They stepped out of the elevator and walked through the glass doors to be deafened by music.

"Hey Abs, you seen Gibbs today?" he yelled over the music.

"Nope, which is weird 'cos…"

"Abby!" he cut her off gesturing to his ears.

"Oh!" she paused the music.

"I said it's weird 'cos he always drops in in the morning to give me my caffeine boost."

"You do love that 'caff-pow' don't ya Abs."

"Yup!"

"Thanks anyway Abby." They both took the elevator back to the bullpen.

When they got back to their desks, they found Gibbs sitting in his chair with fresh cup of coffee, talking on his cell.

"Yah, ok we'll be there in 15 minutes." He said shutting his cell phone.

"Where have you two been?"

"We've been looking for you all morning boss, where the hell were you?" Tony asked.

"Right here."

"But when Kate came in…"

"I was probably in the head now grab your gear we gotta go!" He cut him off, throwing him the keys to the truck.

He slowly turned to Kate.

"Did you know?" he pointed to her accusatively, the key bundled on his finger. She simply shrugged her shoulder with a devious look in her eyes and picked up her bag from beside her chair, following Gibbs to the elevator.


	5. Petty Officer Reynolds

When they arrived at the scene, the first officer on gave them information about the victim.

"We checked his wallet, Identification card says he's Petty Officer Reynolds." Kate's eyes widened.

"Reynolds, as in Pete Reynolds." She asked her voice a little panicky.

"Uh, I dunno mam, that's all it said, you could have a look around see if there's any indications that Pete might be his first name, why do you know him… did you know him." The young officer corrected himself.

"Um, I'm not sure yet. Thanks anyway officer."

"Glad I could help." He left the room leaving the three of them to process the scene.

Kate started to look around the room as should couldn't make a positive I.D. from his blood-covered face.

She turned to closet to see a collage of photographs.

"Hey don't you think it feels kinda weird without McGee being here.

Lucky bastard getting to go under cover." He said under his breath.

"Right now he's probably in the middle of a gunfight screaming like a girl!" he laughed but didn't even hear a snigger from Kate.

"Kate?"

"It's him, look at this photo Tony." She said showing him the tightly clutched picture in her hand.

"What, what am I looking at?" he held the photo between his thumb and finger trying to get a better perspective.

"You see that girl in the back behind the go-kart, that's me this is when I took him to the mobile funfair. I used to baby-sit for this kid Tony."

"Oh my god. Gibbs you gotta take a look at this." He called.

They showed him the photo and explained about the letter she'd been sent.

"This doesn't look like a coincidence Kate, it happened in the space of one day." He said regretfully.

She nodded and swallowed hard.

"Hey Gibbs we got another one 5 blocks from here, a neighbor said they heard gunshots about twenty minutes ago and can't get in, they said they think it was locked from the inside."

"Let's go." He said with authority.

"Boss what about..." he said gesturing to the body.

"He can wait. Let's go NOW!" he commanded.

Gibbs left the room with Tony close behind him. He turned back to see if Kate was with him. When he discovered she wasn't he walked back the few feet into the room.

"Kate? Kate!" he grabbed her arm in order to get her attention. She gazed up at him.

"We gotta go, c'mon." He placed his arm on her back guiding her outside.

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Hope you like this chap! Didn't I tell you there'd be action soon! I'll have to leave you hanging for a couple of days coz I'm going to visit family.

Happy Holidays everybody!

xxxxxxxx


	6. Heart Breaking and Entering

When they reached the apartment building they ran up the flights of stairs to the floor where the shots had been heard. There was a crowd of worried neighbors gathered around the front door. They drew their guns pushing everybody back.

Gibbs kicked the door open.

"NCIS!" he yelled to an empty room, or so it seemed. After they had clear the apartment Gibbs went back outside.

"I wanna know everything you know." He said in a threatening manner to one of the witnesses. He told him exactly what the officer had heard from the neighbor who called him.

Tony and Kate were still in a back room where they had found a body with the same manner of death as the previous body, blood smear on his face in a symbol which seemed irrelevant at the first scene. Kate simply stared at him, shaking her head disbelievingly.

"Kate? What is it?" Tony asked now worried.

"I used to share a room with him in college." She said in a small voice.

A look of realization swept over Tony. Kate began to frantically rummage around the desk and surfaces. She picked up what looked like a graduation photo and handed it to Tony. He quickly scanned the picture and saw Kate and the victim next to each other, throwing their hat in the air victoriously.

"Were you two…?" he asked.

She nodded, knowing what he was intending to ask but couldn't quite find the words.

"Oh Kate I'm sorry." He reached out to stroke her hair just as she turned around, making him disguise his caring gesture and scratching his head.

"I'm gonna go tell Gibbs."

"Right behind you." He called after her. He took in a deep breath which he then let out in a regretful sigh looking at the body.


	7. You've got mail

When they got back to the office, Kate turned the corner to see yet another letter on her desk. This was unusual because mail only came in the morning time. She saw Kenny the mail guy just leaving, waiting for the elevator. She caught him just as he was about to step in.

"Hey, Kenny did you by any chance forget to give me a letter and deliver it later in the day?" she said hopefully.

"No sorry, I only delivered once to your area today." He said as the doors closed.

She turned and walked back to her desk, her heart thumping in her chest. She picked it up by the corners and made her way to Abby's lab, using her elbows to press various different buttons the way.

"Abby! I need you to do something for me." She said noticing Tony and Gibbs were both there.

"Sure, what d'you need?" she asked taking a sip of her almost empty 'Caff-Pow'.

"Can you analyze this for trace?" she said placing it carefully in the clear container.

"Ok. Anything specific I should be looking out for?"

"No not particularly, just anything." She said glancing at Tony.

After about 10 minutes of patient waiting, she finally declared that there was nothing on the envelope.

"Ok open it Abs." Gibbs said peering over the top of the plastic examination chamber. She cautiously pulled out another letter with the same characteristics as the first two.

It read:

It's not just me,

There's more than one,

We gonna kill them all for what you've done.

Seeing this Kate left the Lab and Tony followed her.

Gibbs saw her covering her face with her hands in despair shaking her head to whatever Tony was saying to her. He could see she was crying and so could Tony because he him hug her, hushing her and rocking her from side to side, looking over to Gibbs and then back to her.

"Gibbs, what's going on?" she said obliviously.

"I'll tell you about it later Abs." he said gently placing a hand on her shoulder as he left, seeing that Tony and Kate had now broken apart and were stepping into the elevator.


	8. Bad News

Later on in the bullpen, Gibbs' cell phone rang out in to the surprisingly quiet office. He flipped it open and answered it.

"Gibbs, yah, ok we'll be right there." He glanced over at Kate and snapped the phone shut.

"Kate, I'm sorry but it looks like we've got a serious threat here. They found another body, it's the same characteristics as the previous murders. We gotta check it out." She nodded unwillingly.

She looked at Tony, he had a concerned expression on his face.

"I can't take much more of this." She said taking a deep breath.

"I know, it's alright." He said stroking her arm as they followed Gibbs to the elevator.

A/N: Apologies, I think this is the shortest chapter I've ever posted but I'll update soon I promise… as long as I get some feedback! Mwahahahaha!

Luv

Cupid's Girlfriend

xxxxx


	9. Grief, leads to comfort, leads to

They arrived at the scene and when Kate stepped out of the truck, everything was suddenly very familiar.

"What is it Kate?" Tony asked her seeing her looking a little confused.

"This is where I grew up, but… my family moved out years ago unless… Oh my God, he didn't, he wouldn't bring one of my family here to kill them would he?"

"I dunno, let's find out." He replied.

As they almost ran into the house, Kate explained that she had called her mother and brothers after the second murder, warning them.

She climbed the stares, her heart rate rising with each step.

She walked into her brother's old bedroom, through a crowd of cops and investigators, she saw her brother's lifeless body on the bed, posed the same as the first two.

She drifted back into Tony's arms, he guided her out of the room and into the one next-door, which happened to be her old room, a place she had always felt safe in… until now.

"Kate look at me, hey look at me." He placed a finger under her chin, nudging her vision upwards slightly. The tears in her mournful eyes reflected the light, Tony could see how distraught she was.

He wiped away the tears on her cheeks with both thumbs.

"C'mon, sit down." He sat Kate down on her bed, kneeling in front of her and taking her hands in his,

"I promise we are gonna find the son of a bitch that's doing this to you ok?"

"Don't make a promise you can't keep." She told him in a small voice, rocking herself back and forth a little.

"Oh I'm keeping this one." He said convincingly, swallowing hard the lump that had appeared in his throat when he realized Kate was crying.

Another tear fell.

"C'mere." She rose to her feet and slid her arms around his body squeezing him closer to her.

After a few moments, Kate spoke.

"Tony, thanks for being here for me through this."

She pulled back, looking up and into his eyes. She edged closer to his lips. When they met, she was surprised that Tony kissed her back. He kissed her softly, and then pulled away.

"Kate?"

She smiled.

"Yes?" she said moving closer to him. Tony again pulled away, but still lingering close to her lips.

"I can't believe I'm saying this but, I don't think we should be doing this right now."

"Why not?" she tried again to kiss him, he pressed his lips against hers in a short kiss.

"Because, you're in grief and I don't want you to do something you'll …regret."

"What makes you think I'll regret this?" she asked seductively.

"Kate." He simply said her name to try and remind her of who she was, who he was.

She sighed regretfully.

"I know. I'm sorry, I just, I need you right now and… god I just wish…"

"…Yeah." He said knowingly, resting his forehead against hers.

"I wanna be with you Kate, you have no idea how bad, but I don't think that this is the right time, ok?" He admitted, brushing a loose piece of hair behind her ear.

She nodded.

They heard a knock on the door.

"Hey, anybody in there?" An officer called.

"Yah, um NCIS agents Kate Todd & Tony DiNozzo." Tony called.

"We found something you might wanna see." He reported.

"We'll be right in." he said breaking the contact between the two of them.


	10. Something kept secret, ment to be found

Tony and Kate stepped into the room, only just holding onto each other's hand.

"We found this in a box under his bed." He showed them a tape, with a dusted fingerprint on it.

They looked at Kate for some clarification.

"M-my brother used to hide thing he wanted to keep secret in that box." She said, looking shocked.

"How did he know?" She asked herself, slightly under her breath.

"The same way he knew about all the other vics." Tony pointed out thoughtlessly. Not seeing how scared Kate was by this thought.

"Did you do that?" Tony said gesturing to the dusted print on the tape surface.

"No, it was like that when we found it." He said honestly.

"Oh my God, he did that himself?" Kate asked for confirmation.

"Guess so." The officer replied.

Tony took the tape from him by the tips and handed it to a forensic investigator, who accepted it with a nod, and began to remove the print.


End file.
